According to the 2005-06 ABS Survey of Attendance at Selected Cultural Venues and Events a total of 7.2 million people aged 15 years and over (45% of the population) visited art galleries or other museums in the 12 months before being interviewed. Females recorded higher attendance rates than males for both types of institution.

While the 'Attendance Survey' provides information on the type of people who attend a museum and an indication of how often they go, it is unable to give a figure for the total number of admissions.

As the survey only obtained information about Australian residents aged 15 years or over, some groups were excluded from the data collection such as tourists from overseas and younger age groups.

Further, as respondents were asked to indicate their frequency of attendance from a set of ranges, for example, 6-10 times, 11-20 times, 21 times or more etc. it is not possible to accurately calculate the exact number of visits.

However, an estimate of the number of admissions can be obtained from a survey of museums conducted in 2003-04.

The survey found that there were 31.2 million admissions during the year, of which about two thirds (66%) were free of charge. Art galleries accounted for almost two fifths (37%) of all admissions.

8.3 Museum admissions, During the year ended 30 June 2004

OTHER MUSEUMS

Art
galleries

Social history
museums

Historic
properties/sites

Natural, science
and other museums

Total

'000

'000

'000

'000

'000

Paid

1 546.3

4 025.5

2 798.9

2 188.9

10 559.5

Free

*9 934.6

5 801.0

*1 988.3

*2 906.7

20 630.6

Total

*11 480.9

9 826.5

4 787.1

5 095.6

31 190.1

* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution

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